This invention pertains to food preparation ovens, and more particularly to a cooling system for oven control circuitry in a double-stack food preparation oven arrangement.
One problem of primary concern when dealing with food preparation ovens is the effect of escaping heat on the oven control circuitry, which operates and monitors the ovens during the cooking process. For example, most oven control boxes containing the oven control circuitry are mounted directly on, or in close proximity to, the oven, and if this environment becomes too warm due to the escaping radiating heat from the cooking chamber, the oven control circuitry may provide improper operation or monitoring of the cooking process, or even prematurely fail. Naturally, the occurrence of either of these two situations is highly undesirable since either will result in an improperly cooked food product.
The above problem is particularly exacerbated in a double-stack food preparation oven arrangement comprising two vertically stacked food preparation ovens wherein the upwardly radiating heat from the lowermost oven contacts and heats the oven control circuitry or the mounting surfaces on which the circuitry is disposed. The two primary sources of this escaping radiating heat are generally the cooking chamber and the conveyor device extending through the horizontally disposed oven passageway for conveying cooked food products from the cooking chamber. Another source of the escaping radiating heat can be the oven plenum containing the heat supplying device or apparatus, however, this potential source is generally of secondary importance since it is usually disposed near the back of the oven, while the oven control circuitry is generally disposed near the front of the oven.
Attempts to prevent the overheating of the oven control circuitry, or the mounting surfaces on which the circuitry is disposed, include directing forced air against the circuitry and its mounting surfaces to cool them from the upwardly radiating heat of the lowermost oven. Although these varied methods and their apparatuses do lower somewhat the temperature of the circuitry environment and the mounting surfaces therefor, the apparatuses are naturally undesirable additions to the oven arrangement, and are particularly undesirable for incorporation in a double-stack food preparation arrangement comprising two relatively small cooking ovens, for example, two-foot ovens.
Furthermore, in a double-stack food preparation oven arrangement, the close proximity of the uppermost oven's control circuitry and mounting surfaces to the lowermost oven subjects the circuitry and mounting surfaces to a much hotter environment than if the ovens were situated side-by-side, thereby requiring an inordinate amount of forced cooling air to lower the temperature of the control circuitry environment.